The invention relates generally to the fields of mechanical and visual motion simulation. More particularly, the invention resides in a motion simulator that, in the preferred embodiment, is incorporated into an amusement park ride for a plurality of passengers. The ride provides, through a combination of motion and projected visual images, a convincing sensation of physical motion including flight over a panoramic area. This provides a highly immersive experience that is satisfying and enjoyable to the passengers.
Flight motion simulators have previously been used in fields including aircraft pilot training and amusement rides. Known motion simulators frequently combine applied motion with visual images projected onto some type of display screen. When the images are linked properly with the applied motion, these simulators can provide a convincing illusion of actual flight or motion over a wide area.
Many known motion simulators are less than ideal, however, because the moving images are displayed over only a relatively small area comprising only a fraction of the viewer""s entire visual field. Outside the limited projection area, the view can see stationary objects, which is inconsistent with the illusion of motion the simulator is intended to create. This drastically limits the sense of immersion experienced by the viewer. It would be desirable, therefore, to devise a motion simulator in which moving images are presented to a viewer over a wide area comprising a significant portion of the viewer""s visual field. It would be further desirable to provide a motion simulator in which areas of the viewer""s visual field in which moving images are not projected are blocked from the viewer""s vision by portions of the apparatus, thereby blocking nearby stationary objects from the view of the user.
In some known motion simulators, including applications used both for flight training and for entertainment, for example, the user enters into a closed chamber to block the user""s vision outside the projection area of moving images. The user may sit as a passenger inside the closed chamber. The entire chamber is then moved as moving images, coordinated with the motion of the chamber, are projected into the visual field of the user. Such simulators provide a highly immersive experience and have been found very useful, e.g., for flight training.
Such closed-chamber simulators can be less than ideal, however, in entertainment applications, and in particular for uses such as amusement parks, where it is desirable to move a relatively large number of customers through the simulator quickly, conveniently, and safely. It is often inconvenient, time-consuming, at times even somewhat dangerous to load and unload passengers from motion simulators that incorporate full enclosures for the passengers. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a motion simulator that would provide a highly immersive experience like the closed-chamber type, but that would be amenable to the rapid and convenient loading and unloading of large numbers of passengers so that the motion simulator could be incorporated profitably into a high volume entertainment ride such as might be found in an amusement park or a similar entertainment venue.
The invention resides in an amusement apparatus suitable for use as an amusement ride in an amusement or theme park. In a preferred embodiment, multiple seats serve as passenger stations and are attached to hangars, which are pivoted from a first position suitable for loading and loading the passengers, to a second position where the passengers are suspended over and in front of a video, cinema, or other presentation screen adapted for the display of visual images to the passengers.
In the preferred embodiment, a carriage is driven along a rail by a drive apparatus. The carriage is attached at one point to a hangar for the passenger station seats. The hangar is attached at another end to a pivot bar or another type of pivot member, which is attached in turn to a pivot point that is fixed in space with respect to the rail. As the carriage moves along the rail, the hangar and the seats are pivoted between the first and second positions.
The preferred embodiment further includes deployable canopies positioned over the heads of the passengers. When deployed the canopies block portions of the passengers"" visual fields away from the presentation screen, thereby isolating the passengers somewhat from views away from the presentation screen. This enhances the immersion and sense of artificial flight experienced by the passengers.
The experience of the passengers may be further enhanced by the use of fans in the canopies operable to move air over the passengers as they watch the visual images. Optionally, nozzles may be provided to direct scent materials into proximity to the fans so that appropriate scents may be directed to the passenger in conjunction with selected visual images.
In some alternate embodiments, a retracting floor moves between a first position suitable for loading and unloading passengers into the seats, and a second position away from the passenger seats so that the passengers"" feet are suspended some distance over the floor so that the seats may be lifted and moved safely into position over and in front of the presentation screen. In other embodiments, including in fact the embodiment presently preferred by the inventor, no retracting floor is necessary and so none is used.